Nothing is EVER fair
by Phoenix-Flower92
Summary: How do 16 year olds end up with rare, lifelong diseases, when only weeks previously, they seemed as healthy as ever? Life is just not fair at all! Rated for later chapters
1. Never Fair!

_A/N: I know that I said I probably wouldn't be updating anything for awhile...but my stories are what have been making my sister feel better. She wants me to write. She enjoys me bringing stories for her to read while at the hospital. :)_ So therefore...I shall write:)

* * *

_It's not fair._

_Nothing is fair._

_Nothing is EVER fair._

He repeated it over and over again like a sacred prayer. As if suddenly, after so many times, matters would reverse, and in lieu of nothing ever being fair, the whole universe and everything in it and everything that occurred would be fair.

He didn't understand. How could he, when no one else did, either?? His own Mother didn't understand, as she continually questioned the situation. The _doctors_ didn't understand.

_It's not fair._

_Nothing is fair._

_Nothing is EVER fair._

Zack seemed perfectly normal, perfectly healthy, just a week and a half ago. When he and Cody had taken that trip to the family reunion at the park, and they couldn't find Kurt's side of the family, so Zack had ripped a piece of paper from Cody's notebook and wrote in a heavy black marker: **We're Whoever Wants to Adopt Us.**

They'd taken turns holding the sign up in the window of the car, chuckling madly as the people they passed shot them looks that so evidently stated 'you need help.'

So it wasn't right that now, ten days later, Zack's new residence was the hospital, on floor six, in room 6121. It wasn't right that at his age he had to be put through so many tests. He was too young to spend his summer in a bed, hooked up to a stupid IV pole!!!

_It's not fair._

_Nothing is fair._

_Nothing is EVER fair._

His Mom blamed herself, but what could she have done?! Sure, the signs had been there, as plain as day, but really, truly, and honestly, what could she have done?! The doctors themselves at first, before they'd run test after test, had been stumped at the case.

Of course the weight loss had been extremely suspicious to both Cody and Carey, but Zack had found a job that made him stand all day, on his feet, and because he'd been working, there had been less time to eat. It had been dismissed. There had been no need to overanalyze it. Not really.

And then there were the complaints of backaches, which indeed, had been strange as well, especially to Cody. Old people were supposed to have trouble with joint pain. Not teenagers! But again, it was dismissed. After all, Zack lifted heavy objects at his job.

Besides, it wasn't like taking him to a doctor would have done a thing. Doctors didn't prescribe medicine for colds, much less headaches and backaches! It wasn't like anybody ever thought about a 16-year-old needing tests run. He was 16 years old for crying out loud!! He was automatically supposed to be healthy!

_It's not fair._

_Nothing is fair._

_Nothing is EVER fair._

Cody sourly bit his upper lip, intending to draw blood, as if the mere fact that he was bleeding would subside his misery. Zack didn't even fall between the average ages of people who were diagnosed with this rare disease, which was even rarer. It didn't make sense. Why Zack?! Why now?! Why at this age?! Why not someone else? Why not Cody?!

_It's not fair._

_Nothing is fair._

_Nothing is EVER fair._

Cody slumped in his uncomfortable seat, a golf-ball forming in his dry throat as he watched an oddly frail Zack sleep. Zack, who was skinnier than Cody now. Zack, who could only eat ice chips for the time being. Zack, with an IV that provided him all his needed nutrients through a bag that contained a milk-shake-type liquid.

Zack Martin, who hopefully, with prayer and faith, would not be doomed to live a cursed life from now until his death.

_It's not fair._

_Nothing is fair._

_Nothing is EVER fair._


	2. Diarrhea

**WARNING: This chapter, as with every chapter from now until the end of the story, will deal with very PERSONAL medical issues. You have been warned.**

* * *

_8 days previous (2 days after the Kurt family reunion)_

Zack Martin stumbled blindly into the bathroom, clutching his lower stomach. It was the middle of the night…err…well, technically, just really early in the morning. He moaned as he drowsily lifted up the toilet seat.

Meanwhile, Zack's awaking had also stirred his brother. Cody peeled his eyes open, halfway sitting up in his bed. The blond glanced at the clock, a natural action after waking up—3:01. Sighing, he slumped back down under his green sheets. Ten minutes passed before he heard the shuffle of Zack's feet, returning to the room.

"Ten minutes, Zack?!" he whispered abrasively, even though his eyes were snapped shut.

"Yeah…" Zack groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"I'd rather not say." Came the reply.

"You can tell me."

Zack didn't answer, as he'd already fallen back to sleep.

Fifteen minutes peacefully slid by before both boys' had their sleep disturbed for a second time. Feet pattered across the floor of the suite, headed once again for the bathroom.

Cody groaned, resisting the urge to glimpse over at the clock, knowing that he wouldn't be pleased with what it would read. It wasn't much later than the _last_ time that he'd been aroused. He cursed the fact that he was a light sleeper.

This time, Zack remained occupied for only five minutes, and when he returned, Cody gently opened one eye.

"Diarrhea, Zack?" He voiced his assumption.

"…Yeah…" Zack hesitated.

"Mom's got Pepto-Bismol in the refrigerator."

"I'll take some in the morning…but it'll probably be gone by then." Zack yawned, jumping back into his bed, curling up, and reentering dreamland in an instant.

* * *

Unfortunately for everyone, it hadn't disappeared by morning. Sunlight poured through the Tipton Hotel window the moment that Carey Martin opened up the curtains.

"Morning, boys! I made scrambled eggs and chocolate chip pancakes!"

Instead of the usual responses of Zack leaping up exclaiming that he'd take ten or twelve, and Cody declaring that he'd eat however many were left after Zack had devoured his portion, she merely received a pair of grunts.

"What's wrong with you two?" She questioned, "Did you stay up too late?"

Cody snorted. Zack rolled his eyes.

"It's _summer,_ Mom." His tone suggested major annoyance.

"I don't care. Staying up late only makes you sleep all day long and I won't have it, Zack." She snapped, then turned to her other son, "Nor you, Cody. You two are working now…and if I'm not mistaken, Zack, you work today at 11:00."

"Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to get any sleep when a certain _someone_ refuses to take Pepto-Bismol, and wakes people up three times in the night!"

"Well, sor-_ry_! I was trying to be quiet!" Zack retorted, eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey!" Carey interrupted, "Hush, both of you. Zack, you're having diarrhea?"

"Broadcast it to the universe, will you?" Zack crossed his arms angrily. Having diarrhea wasn't exactly glamorous.

"Why didn't you take something for it, honey?"

"It was late. I was tired. It's just diarrhea, Mom."

"I can't believe he didn't wake_ you _up!" Cody commented randomly.

"Yeah, well, come on. I'll get you some medicine when we eat breakfast."

"Okay."

Zack untangled himself from his sheets and blankets and stood up, making his way into the kitchen. It still astonished Cody every day—_every moment_—about how incredibly skinny Zack was now. Maddie had mistakenly thought that he'd gone on a diet. _Ha—Zack! A diet!_

He was in fact simply more active—so they presumed—from his newest job. The twins had been lucky enough to discover a small grocery store five blocks away from the hotel that hired teens as young as fourteen. The manager happily offered both of them cashier positions. They'd had the job for about a year now, seeing as they'd only just turned 15 a month ago and had applied for it a month and a half following their fourteenth birthday.

"Now then," Carey piped up, setting a full hot plate in front of Zack and one in front of Cody, "You need a good meal to energize you before work!"

Zack picked up his fork, twirling it around several times with his fingers before cutting up a square of pancake and sliding it into his mouth. Three bites and he proclaimed that he was full.

"_Already?!_" Cody cried out, "Are you kidding? You've barely eaten anything!"

Carey, attempting to overlook it, said, "I'm sure it's no big deal, he does have diarrhea, I wouldn't have an appetite either, if it were me."


End file.
